Maxson appeared in court Monday for unrelated charges of sexual assault and sexual interference of a person under 16. Anonymous traced him to the online handle Kody1206, an active user on teen chat hub Blogtv — where Todd was coerced into exposing herself — and various forums dedicated to trading “jailbait,” or sexualized images of teens.

Maxson says he was a friend to Todd. “I tried to help, to do everything I could.”

The Lower Mainland man, who appeared in court in a black hoodie emblazoned with the words ‘Stompdown Killaz,’ said he got some “sketchy” information about the blackmailer, who he says was 26, lived in New York and goes by an alias of Viper. The man said he passed this information to the RCMP and NYPD, but he couldn’t remember whom he spoke with. …

He said he only knew Amanda in “a sense,” but denied he was one of her cyber-bullies.

“If I was a tormentor I’d be in police custody,” he said, adding he’s “really pissed off and annoyed” that people are pointing the finger at him. “None of it’s true. I’m feeling betrayed.”

After “doxxing” Maxson, Anonymous moved on to Viper, uploading all known information on him into a Pastebin file. The group disagrees with Maxson’s description of Viper as a 26-year-old New Yorker. According to Anon, Viper is a 41-year-old from Sheboygan, Michigan.

“Supposedly Dakota Maxson has said that it was Viper who was the one stalking her. That seems like complete bullshit,” reads Anonymous’ statement on Pastebin. “Guess it is all a coincidence that someone who is a pedophile and has black mailed other girls over webcam knew Amanda Todd and just was ‘helping’ her to stay away viper. So is this all just a giant coincidence then? Anyway here is the dox of Viper2323 or at least what I could gather, if police investigated this it is more then enough to catch him.”

Three years ago, when Todd was 12, a stranger coerced her into exposing her breasts online. A year later, the same stranger contacted her, threatening to spread screenshots of Todd to her friends and family if she didn’t “give him a show.” She refused, and the man, true to his word, passed images of the preteen to her close contacts.

In a haunting self-produced video (see below), Todd writes her story on index cards: Her peers at school began harassing her, abusing her verbally and physically. She turned to drugs. She attempted to take her own life by drinking bleach. And a week ago, after she posted this plea for help, she tried to kill herself again — and succeeded.

Maxson has received death threats and is the subject of multiple hate groups on Facebook. The evidence against him is inconclusive — and Anonymous has since updated its info, explaining that it provided the wrong Canadian address.